Dimensions in Time REDUX
by Ratin8tor
Summary: Dimensions in Time was a horrible, horrible Doctor Who story that squandered a fantastic premise. ... Lets fix it, using all 14 Doctors this time
1. Chapter 1

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, as the Doctor desperately hung on. Her coat's hood flew over her blond hair, covering her eyes, just to make things even more unnecessarily confusing. Suddenly the ship seemed to right itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"Now then," she said, dusting off her blue jeans and maroon shirt. "What was that all about?"

"Doctor?" said a familiar voice. She looked up to see

"Clara?" said the Doctor in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Have you regenerated?" asked Clara.

"Well, yes," admitted the Doctor. "But what are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Well one moment I was in the TARDIS," said Clara. "And then I, well, was in the TARDIS... Are you really the Doctor?"

"I... Wait, what's the last thing we did together?"

"Well we just helped a group of vikings fight some aliens-" began Clara.

"Right, good, I remember now," said the Doctor. "And I helped saved Ashildr. You were with my previous incarnation, old eyebrows."

"Doctor, what is going on?" asked Clara, as the TARDIS suddenly rocked again.

"I'll tell you once I've figured it out myself," said the Doctor. "But by the looks of these readings we've landed."

"Where?"

"Somewhere in London... The East End, by the looks of it. Come on!"

Without a pause the Doctor rushed out of the TARDIS, Clara closely following suit.

"Right, lets see..." The Doctor grabbed a newspaper, ignoring the street vendor's protests. "Earth, 23rd November, 1993. Now what are we doing here?"

"Doctor," said Clara, still thoroughly confused. The Doctor looked at her and broke out into a massive grin. Without warning the Doctor swept Clara into a massive bear hug.

"Are you sure you're the Doctor," said Clara suspiciously, as the Doctor eventually let go.

"It's a long story," said the Doctor. "Wait, if you're here, what happened to my friends? They must be... oh."

"Oh?"

"Oh I'm getting something... it's in the back of my mind, some memories, fizzing away... Something's not right. Someone is trying to mess with my personal timeline!"

Suddenly the Doctor froze, as if like a statue, before letting out a shriek of pain and collapsing to the ground. Bystanders gathered around them as Clara knelt to the Doctor's side.

"Doctor, are you okay?" asked Clara, reaching forward to touch her friend... only to find her hand going straight through her. The Doctor looked faded, as if some sort of ghost.

"Have to contact the others," she hissed through the pain, trying to get up, before her arm gave away beneath her. "Have to get help."

"Right, yes, others," said Clara. "Others as in?"

"My other selves... Emergency temporal beacon. I need to summon them here."

"Anything I can do to help?" asked Clara. The Doctor nodded, her face firm with focus. She reached for Clara's hand, who took it and held to it tightly.

"You've been in my personal time-stream," said the Doctor. "There should be copies of you all throughout my life. I just need to pass a message along to them, to that they can contact me."

"Whatever you say Doctor," said Clara, deeply concerned, unsure if she was even helping. Maybe the best place to take her would be the TARDIS? Certainly couldn't hurt. Slowly she flung her friend over her shoulder, pulling her back to the safety of their home.

It was only when they were inside that Clara looked over the console. It was certainly different, what with it being all crystal and dark. She glanced at her friend. She was different as well, slightly better looking... maybe there was a chance to rekindle something, perhaps?

The Doctor lay on the floor, going in and out of corporal form. Clearly the pain was getting to her, as she tried to compartmentalize it, focus on the task at hand, focus on sending the message.

Clara was about to reach out, to try and comfort the Doctor some more, when the console room violently lurched.

 _The being watched the monitor, laughing to herself. Honestly, it was all to easy to outwit a halfwit like the Doctor. She had done exactly what was planned, and had signed her own death warrant. Soon the next stage of her plan would be ready for action. As she smiled she saw the floating head of the Doctor appear in front of her, signalling that she'd captured one. Only thirteen more to go._


	2. Chapter 2

The console lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, as the Doctor desperately hung on. His long scarf stretched behind him, his curly hair bouncing wildly. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"Oh this won't do," he said, getting up and brushing off his burgundy coat. "What's the matter with you, hmm?"

"Who are you," demanded a stranger. The Doctor looked around, seeing three complete strangers standing in front of him.

"Hello," he said, with a wide toothy smile. "I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

"You're not the Doctor," said the young man.

"I most certainly am," said the Doctor. "Unless I regenerated. Oh I would hate to go due to bumping my head on the console."

"The Doctor's a woman," said the young lady.

"Am I?" said the Doctor, eyes boggling. "My, what a turn of events. I wonder if it suits me. I should ask Romana what her opinion on it all is..." He trailed off, trying to remember something important.

"Look, can you tell us who you are?" said the older man angrily.

"More importantly, can you tell me who you are," said the Doctor. "It'll be awfully difficult to have a conversation without having any names."

"I'm Graham," said the older man, "this is Yaz, and this is my grandson Ryan. So if you could kindly tell us what you're doing in the Doctor's TARDIS."

"Oh I see," said the Doctor, beaming. "You're telling me my future self hasn't told you about regeneration? For shame, that was really inconsiderate of me." The TARDIS suddenly rocked again, before settling.

"Oh we've landed," beamed the Doctor. "Excellent. Shall we have a look where we are." He pulled a lever on the console, causing the other three to jump as the wall seemed to suddenly open. He grinned and made his way out, his future companions milling about.

"What's going on?" asked Ryan. "Where's the Doctor."

"I don't know," admitted Graham. "Robots and giant spiders I can understand, but this... this is weird even for our standards."

"I feel like we can trust him though," said Yaz. "He reminds me of the Doctor."

"Anyway lets follow him," said Graham, making his way towards the door. "If nothing else I feel like he'll have the answers."

The Doctor stood in the middle of the street, beaming. His eye caught a local newspaper, the date revealing itself to be the 23rd of November, 1973. Judging from his surroundings, he was somewhere in the East End of London. He beamed, feeling slightly nostalgic about his time here with UNIT (unless he was remembering the wrong decade of course). But underneath his grin his mind whirred away, trying to work out what had caused the TARDIS to land here.

"Where are we?" asked Ryan, still not comfortable with referring to the strange man as Doctor.

"You tell me you don't recognize London?" the Doctor asked in surprise.

"We're from Sheffield," said Yaz. "Plus everything looks... old."

"Hang on," said Graham, looking around, before beaming. "Are we in the 70s? Oh I loved the 70s. Great decade."

The Doctor broke into an even wider smile. "Oh I'm so glad you agree," he said warmly, putting his hat on his head. "Now, the question is, what are we doing here."

"Well you took us here," said Ryan.

"Oh no, I had the randomizer on still, thought it'd be a nice change of pace. No I was travelling with my companion Adric – Say, I wonder where he is."

"Whose Adric?" asked Yaz.

"Oh a young boy, bit arrogant, brilliant at maths," said the Doctor fondly. "No doubt he's got himself into all sorts of trouble."

"Well we'll keep an eye out for him," said Graham.

"If you could be so kind," grinned the Doctor, whose face suddenly dropped.

"Doctor?" asked Yaz, concerned.

"Contact," whispered the Doctor, closing his eyes. Suddenly he stumbled onto a bench, clutching his chest.

"Doctor!" cried the three of them, rushing to his aid.

"No, it's fine," he said, trying to let out a grin to calm those around him. "Just feeling a little light-headed. As if someone walked over my graves."

"Well lets get you back to the TARDIS," said Graham, hauling the man up. Slowly they stumbled back, opening the door and stumbling inside, into the glare.

The Doctor leant on the console, tapping away, before stopping suddenly.

"Wait a moment," he said, concerned. "I feel like I've done this before."

"Well you probably have," said Graham, trying to cheer this stranger up. "I mean the Doctor flew in the TARDIS plenty of times."

"No, this exact sequence of events," said the Doctor. "Arriving the East End, feeling the attack on my selves, leaving as soon as possible. No, I don't like the feeling of this at all. I think we better leave here as soon as possible."

He started the dematerialization sequence when the console room violently lurched.

" _Excellent," said the figure, a thin smile crossing her face. "That's two of the fools in my grasp so far." Her smile grew wider as the head of the brown, curly-haired Doctor floated in front of her._

" _The time tunnel is ready to receive its first guests," said her accomplice._

" _Good," said the figure. "The trap is almost complete. But it always helps to have a contingency plan. Nevertheless, it won't be long before the Doctor is out of my way forever!"_


	3. Chapter 3

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, as the man formally known as the Doctor desperately hung on. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the man landing on the floor with a thud.

"What blasted attack was it this time," the old man grumbled, not bothering to brush any dust off his beaten, weather-worn jacket. He scowled as he looked over the readings, unable to make sense of them. He continued to check the instruments, centuries of caution conditioning him to never blindly rush out the door like he did in his youth.

"Doctor," said a familiar voice. The man stood, frozen. Out of all the things he'd been forced to endure, this would have to be the cruellest yet.

"Have you seen the Doctor?" repeated the young boy. The man looked up to see the young Alzarian staring back at him.

"Adric," said the Doctor, before remembering that he wasn't the Doctor any more, not really. He quickly buried his feelings and got back to studying the controls.

"How do you know me?" asked the boy quizzically, brow furrowed. "Who are you? Where's the Doctor?"

"He's not here," said the tired old man. "He's not been here for a very long time."

"But this is his TARDIS?" asked Adric.

"Depends how you look at it. Now please, a moment. I need to check to see if it's safe outside."

"You're definitely not the Doctor then," chuckled Adric. "He'd go outside regardless of how safe it was."

The man said nothing, refusing to let his emotions get the better of them. He suppressed them, as he always did, and finished his scans. Everything seemed fine.

"Come along," he said instinctively, already falling back into old patterns despite his best intentions. "Lets see where we've landed."

"What a weird place," said Adric, as he walked down the street.

"The East End of London," said his companion. "Earth, 23rd November, 2013. An unusual time to say the least."

"What are we doing here?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. For some reason the TARDIS decided it wanted to land here."

"Do you think the Doctor is here?"

"I hope so," said the old man, eyes constantly scanning for danger, waiting for a Dalek to appear around the corner and shatter this idyllic world. But instead everything seem quiet, normal, peaceful. Blissfully unaware that the fabric of time they found themselves wound in was being torn apart.

"Well lets go find him," said Adric happily, with the boundless energy all young boys seemed to have. The energy the old man once shared.

No, stop that, he thought to himself. No time getting all pitiful. Find the problem, solve it, move on. Don't get attached.

"Shall we have a look around?" he asked, walking towards a pub without even bothering to wait to hear what his companion had to say.

"Can I help you?" asked the bartender.

"I was wondering if you could tell me if you'd seen anything strange lately," replied the older of the two men who had entered the establishment.

"Well the couple down the street have been up at all hours," said the bartender. "And the prices at the stalls are getting a big high."

"Anything of a more... extraterrestrial behaviour?" prodded the man.

"Well there is this one lady... right weird she is, running around looking for the Doctor. Some say she's been doing it for forty odd years, if you can believe that nonsense."

"What does this lady look like?" asked the younger of the two.

"Couldn't tell ya," admitted the bartender. "Truth be told she only hangs round the park for a few minutes, then disappears. You might as well go there to see if you can have any luck."

"Thank you very much," said the older man, departing. He felt uneasy... something was definitely wrong. He just didn't know what.

He only made it halfway towards the park before suddenly stopping and clutching his chest in pain. It was his past selves... and his future selves? No, that's impossible, he had no future. But something was seriously wrong.

"Are you okay?" asked Adric, concerned. The man turned to look at the young boy. For a moment, a brief moment, he thought of abandoning the boy. It would be the nicest thing to do. Leave him here, away from the TARDIS, away from the Doctor, away from the Cyber-Fleet. The boy would struggle, sure, but at least he would survive. It could cause a strain on the web of time, but it was already in shambles, what would another loose thread be?

But the Doctor couldn't. The Doctor couldn't just willingly strand his companion in an unknown place, in an unknown time, with the boy having no idea what was happening and why. And while the man may have given up the name of the Doctor, it wasn't fair for this young boy to burden his punishment.

"Take me back to the TARDIS," wheezed the Time Lord, clutching both his hearts. Adric nodded, helping him back to his ship.

Once inside the Doctor stood next to the console, steadying himself. He wasn't sure why the TARDIS took him there, but the sooner he left the bet-

No. Hang on. This had happened before. Twice now. Somehow he knew he'd done this same sequence twice, and both times... something had happen. But what? And why?

Suddenly the cloister bell rung, a more common sound now than in the past, but one that he couldn't ignore. The TARDIS was calling to him to leave, that she'd been tricked into coming here and she wanted to get as far away as possible. And yet the old man hesitated, unsure of himself, wondering what the right move would be.

He was still deciding when the console violently lurched.

" _Who is this one ma'am," asked her accomplice, confused. "I don't recognize him."_

" _He is the one that refused to call himself the Doctor," sneered his master. "The pitiful fool, all sad and whiny at having to get his hands dirty for once. It's disgusting."_

" _Well, nevertheless, he is trapped too."_

" _Yes, just as expected. It won't be long until they're all stuck there... and then my plan will be complete!"_


	4. Chapter 4

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, as the Doctor desperately hung on, his black jacket flapping by his side. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the man landing on the floor with a thud.

"What's all this then," he said angrily, brushing the dirt off his dark jeans and checking all the instruments. "Having a right go, aren't ya?"

"Professor?" asked a familiar voice. The Doctor looked up, confused and slightly annoyed.

"Ace?" he said, incredulously. "What are you doing here? I thought I left you..." He trailed off, wondering what did happen to Ace after she departed the TARDIS.

"Who are you and what have you done with the Doctor?" replied Ace, holding her baseball bat up high. The Doctor couldn't help but smile. Good old Ace, with a baseball bat that managed to take out a Dalek.

His smile quickly disappeared when he realized who wasn't with them.

"Rose?" he called, spinning in circles to check every era of the console room. "Where are you?"

"Oi!" said Ace indignantly. "Don't ignore me!"

"Yes, yes," said the Doctor, waving his hand dismissively. "You haven't seen a blond girl around here, have you? Yay high, bit of a personality at times?"

"No?" said Ace, confused, before steeling her resolve. "But if you don't tell me what's going on I'll knock you're block off."

"Ace," said the Doctor wearily, taking a step forward. Ace held her ground, holding the bat up high. Before the conservation could continue, the TARDIS shuddered, and landed.

"That's odd," said the Doctor, turning his attention back to the console. "I didn't set the co-ordinates. Where are we?" It was a redundant question. There was a chance Rose was out there, and he was going to find her.

He'd have to get by Ace first, who had put herself in front of him and the door.

"I swear, if you don't tell me what's going on, I'll blow this place to kingdom come."

"With your Nitro-9 no doubt. Ace, it's me," he continued, seeing the puzzled look on her face as she glanced at the backpack on her shoulders. "I'm the Doctor. I'm different, yes, but is it really hard to believe that I can change my body?"

Ace had to admit, she had seen stranger things. But she'd also learned not to be a fool.

"If you're really the Professor, prove it!"

The Doctor sighed, and looked wistful.

"Remember when the explosion in the chemistry lab took you to Iceworld," he said. "And I offered you a lift home, and we saw all sorts of amazing things. Daleks, Cybermen, Haemovores, Cat People? Dorothy, look at me."

He stood directly in front of her, in perfect distance from her bat, and looked into her eyes.

"I'm the Doctor."

Ace paused, then broke into a smile.

"Wicked," she said. "So, Professor, what's going on?"

The Doctor chuckled. He missed being called that, despite his insistence to the contrary.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But the answers are through that door. Lets go see, shall we?"

"Is this the East End of London?" asked Ace, incredulously. "Why on Earth would you come here?"

"I didn't. The TARDIS decided to come here. Clearly there's something amiss at the moment."

"Do you think it's Fernic?" asked Ace, concerned.

"No, we dealt with him a long time ago... Ah." The look on her face made it clear that the final end of Fernic had yet to happen for her.

"Forget I said anything," he said, before seeing a woman selling clothes. "Anyway, if you ever get into trouble, ask the locals. They know everything."

"Looking for a discount?" asked the woman as they approached. "I've got some fabulous stuff."

"Not at the moment," said the Doctor, beaming. "But you could help me another way. I was just wondering, do you know what the date is?"

"November 23rd," said the woman. "And you could get these for your daughter, just in time for Christmas."

"I'm not his daughter," said Ace, slightly revolted. The thought of the professor being her dad... she couldn't think of anything worse.

"Not right now," said the Doctor. "Say, what year is it?"

"Year?" asked the woman. "Are you drunk?"

"No, just making small talk," beamed the Doctor, giving off another one of his disarming smiles.

"It's 1993 of course," said the woman.

"Oh of course," said the Doctor, laughing at his own ignorance. "Silly me. Of course it's 1993. Except, well, there's just one slight problem."

"Oh?" asked the woman.

"These clothes won't be made for another twenty years," the Doctor replied, the charming smile gone, replaced with a cold hard seriousness. "None of those logos are relevant. Why are you selling clothes for pop culture that's yet to exist?"

"Am I?" said the woman, oblivious to the Doctor's building rage. "Well, it helps to be ahead of the curve."

"Doctor," said Ace, concern in her voice.

"Not now," said the Doctor.

"Doctor!" she repeated, more urgently.

"I said not n- oh. I see."

The two of them watched as the Cyberman slowly, deliberately, lumbered towards them, gun raised.

"Tell me, would you happen to have some Nitro-9 on hand?" whispered the Doctor.

"But of course Professor," replied Ace, huddling close to the Doctor.

"Okay, so, here's what we'll do. We'll lead it to the park, and then you can blow it up."

"Really?" said Ace, surprised. It wasn't like the Doctor to be so direct. He was normally more manipulative and cunning.

"We can't risk even one Cyberman running around in this time period," said the Doctor. "Get ready to run on my signal."

He straightened up and faced the Cyberman.

"Hello," he said cheerfully. "I'm the Doctor. No doubt you want to eradicate me for the glory of the Cyber-race."

"Doctor," came the metallic reply, as the Cyberman started to pick up speed.

"Now Ace!" cried the Doctor, and the two of them took off, the Cyberman in tow.

"Why isn't anyone else reacting to this?" asked Ace as they tore down the streets, dodging yet another blast from the Cyberman's gun.

"Perception filter most likely," said the Doctor, as they entered the park, the Cyberman close behind. They ran to the other end, only to find it padlocked shut.

"Now would be a good time Ace," said the Doctor, as the Cyberman aimed his gun. Before it could fire there was a massive explosion, knocking the Cyberman off its feet. It lay on the ground, the thing that could most charitably called life draining from it.

"You could have dialled it back a bit," said the Doctor, waving away the smoke.

"You said we couldn't take the risk," replied Ace. "Anyway, there goes most of my Nitro-9. Now what?"

"Now we go back to the TARDIS," said the Doctor. "And work out what's going on."

The attack hit him the moment he stepped through the TARDIS threshold. It felt like a thousand hands were tearing away at his insides. He winced in pain, falling to his knees.

"Professor?"

The Doctor tried to speak but couldn't, the pain too severe. It was bad, and yet, strangely familiar. But why?

There was no time for it now. The world was in danger, and he wasn't going to let a little thing of his past lives being ripped from the timeline stop him. He staggered over the console, checking the readings, scanning for alien technology.

"Professor?" repeated Ace, still concerned.

"This makes no sense," said the Doctor, panic rising. "Daleks, Cybermen, Slitheen, Draconian, Time Lord? What is going on?"

In the back of his mind a memory seemed to be trying to get his attention, but he ignored it, focusing on the problem at hand. And yet everything seemed strangely familiar...

"Hang on," he said. "Haven't we done this before?"

It was at that moment the console violently lurched.

" _Why did you send the Cyberman out ma'am?" asked the young man, risking her wrath by daring to question her motives. He owed her his life, but the curiosity was driving him mad._

" _I didn't mean to send it out you fool," snarled the woman. "Clearly the more Doctor there is, the weaker the containment field gets. No matter. He only needs to survive long enough to be ensnared in the trap. After that, I don't care what happens to him. As long as his suffering is forever enternal, that is."_


	5. Chapter 5

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, as the Doctor desperately hung on, his baggy clothes fluttering by his side. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"Oh my giddy aunt," he said, attempting to brush himself off, but looking like a cosmic hobo regardless of what he did. "Now then, what was that all about?"

"Who are you?" demanded a strange voice. The Doctor looked up to see a young blond woman staring back at him.

"Hello?" said the Doctor slowly and calmly, keeping an eye on the woman. "I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

"You're not the Doctor," said the woman, looking around desperately to get her bearings. "Where am I? Where's the Doctor? What have you done with him?"

"You're in the TARDIS," said the Doctor.

"This isn't the TARDIS," said the woman. "It's too... simple."

"Simple?" replied the Doctor. "Oh I bet my future self redecorated. He always goes round doing that, he doesn't appreciate the simplicity of it all."

"If you don't let me go you're in for a world of trouble," said the girl. The Doctor sighed. It was clear that she was some future companion of his, but beyond that he was just as lost as she was.

"What's your name," he asked politely, trying to look as non-threateningly as possible (which, to be honest, wasn't hard for him).

"Rose," Rose replied cautiously.

"Hello Rose," said the Doctor. "I am the friend of the Doctor. He was in terrible danger and told me to look after you."

"Did he?" Rose asked cautiously. The Doctor stared at her, wondering if the bluff would hold. He didn't have time to make up his mind, as the TARDIS shuddered and landed.

The Doctor's brow furrowed, and he checked the instruments. He didn't remember the TARDIS taking off. It also occurred to him that Jaime and Zoe were missing, but now wasn't the time to panic. Not when the young woman in front of him needed his help.

"Well my dear," he said, smiling and clasping his hands together. "Shall we see where we are?"

He pulled down a lever and opened the doors, strolling out. Rose cautiously followed this strange little man, hoping that the Doctor was waiting for her on the other side.

"We're in the East End of London?" Rose asked incredulously. It certainly wasn't where she was expecting to end up.

"It certainly appears that way," said the Doctor, looking around. "Sometime around the 1970s, judging by the outfits. How very peculiar. I wonder why the TARDIS has taken me here."

Absent-mindedly he pulled out his recorder and played a few notes, as it always helped him clear his mind.

"Look, it's not funny any more," said Rose angrily. "Where is the Doctor?"

The Doctor sighed and put the recorder away. Clearly this was going to take a lot of explaining.

Before he even had a chance though he spotted something out the corner of his eye.

"Oh my word!" he cried in horror. Rose turned and let out a scream, as lumbering towards them were all sorts of monsters.

"When I say run," said the Doctor slowly, "run. Run!"

They both took off in separate directions. The Doctor turned, saw that his new companion was running away from the TARDIS, rolled his eyes and went back for her.

"No not that way," he said, catching up with her and she ducked into the park. "Back to the TARDIS."

"Where's the Doctor?" cried Rose.

"Oh for goodness sake," said the Doctor crossly, but didn't have time to finish his sentence. To his shock and horror, a Dalek trundled along, blocking the exit. He turned to the other one, only to find it chained and locked. He turned back to face the Dalek, hurdling the scared girl behind her, desperately thinking of a way to escape.

SMACK!

The Dalek's eye-stalk flew off as the baseball bat continued to swing through the air, twisting round to have another go at its base. Unnatural sparks flew off both the creature and the instrument, sending the Dalek wheeling backwards. A third blow managed to knock the gun clean off.

"I see why she liked this," said a strange woman, holding the baseball bat in her hands. She turned and faced the Doctor.

"Doctor," she said, breaking into a smile. "I'm glad I found you. I have a message."

"Doctor!" cried Rose. The Doctor turned his attention away from the strange girl and towards the approaching monsters.

"Get out of here," said the girl, producing a strange, cylinder object and pointing it at the lock on the gate. The device buzzed, popping open the lock, the chain sliding away. The Doctor was torn, unsure which of the two to help.

"Trust me," said the girl. "Run you clever boy. And remember." The Doctor nodded, feeling as if he could trust her, and took off, Rose in tow.

It took them a while, dodging around the monsters, but they made it back to the safety of the TARDIS. The Doctor let out a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived. Something had gone terribly wrong, and he needed to figure out what to do.

Contact the Time Lords, maybe? It would probably cost him his life and most definitely his freedom, but what other options did he have? Someone was playing havoc with the timeline, and he had his companions to think about. Where had Jaime and Zoe got to? And who was this woman he was stuck with?

"Take me to the Doctor!" cried Rose.

"Oh do be quiet," said the Doctor angrily, before he suddenly clutched his chest in pain. But it made no sense. He'd heard the stories of Time Lords being affected when previous incarnations suffered, but pain this bad... no, it didn't make sense, unless it was somehow from his future.

Rose, scared out of her mind and confused beyond belief, rushed to help the man. She helped him up to his feet, supporting him.

"This doesn't make sense," he said in a daze, his hands wandering over the controls as if he was on auto-pilot. He was about to take off when the console violently lurched.

" _Can't you keep the containment field steady you fool?" sneered the woman, as she surveyed the damage._

" _I'm trying my best," he bit back, desperately trying to keep everything under control._

" _It's no matter," she said. "It's keeping the Doctor distracted well enough. And soon they'll be trapped completely. Just two more Doctors, and then my revenge will be complete."_

 _The collection of heads floated in front of her, each one a sickening trophy of her success. Her plan to confuse the Doctor was working wonderfully. The question was, which pairing to choose next._


	6. Chapter 6

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, the Doctor trying to find some grip with his trainers on the slanted floor. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"What's all this then, aye?" he said, brushing the dust off his pinstripe suit. "What's gotten into you?"

"Where are we Jaime?" asked a voice he hadn't heard in a long time.

"I dunno," replied a Scottish drawl that the Doctor wish he could have.

A smile broke out across the Doctor's face as he looked up, seeing two of his best friends standing there.

"Jaime!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Zoe!" He bounced over to them, pulling them into a massive hug. Jaime pushed the strange man away, getting ready to draw his knife.

"Who are you and what have you done with the Doctor?" he growled menacingly. The Doctor ignored the tone, giddily bouncing from one foot to another.

"Oh I've missed this," he said. "It's great seeing you. No, wait, hang on."

He paused, holding up his hand.

"No, this is bad. Like end of the universe time paradox bad. This shouldn't be happening." He rushed round the console, flicking switches and twisting dials.

"Jaime?" asked Zoe cautiously.

"I don't know what's going on," said Jaime. "But I don't think that man's the Doctor."

"Of course I am," said the Doctor. "Remember all the adventures we went on together. Cybermen, Krotons, Ice Warriors, Quarks... okay admittedly that last one is probably best forgotten."

"How do you know all that?" asked Zoe.

"Oh come now," said the Doctor. "Open your mind. If I know these things, and I claim to be the Doctor, isn't it logical that I am him?" Zoe said nothing, not sure what to make of it.

"And Jaime," continued the Doctor, still trying to settle the TARDIS. "Piper for the Clan McLaren. Don't you remember all the adventure we had?"

"Aye..." said Jaime slowly and reluctantly.

"You know, Jaime," said Zoe. "I think this is the Doctor."

Before they could continue the TARDIS shuddered as it landed.

"Enough reminiscing," said the Doctor, flicking a few switches. "Something is clearly wrong and the answers lay out there. Allons-y." With that the Doctor ran down the walkway and out through the door like a blur. Jaime and Zoe gave each a confused look, but followed.

The Doctor ran a little way down the street before stopping and having a look around. Despite the strangeness of the circumstances what was before him was rather, well... ordinary.

"The East End of London?" he said, slightly disappointed. "Why am I here in..." He licked his finger and held it in the air. "November 23rd, 2013?"

"Look," said Jaime, as he caught up with the Doctor. "Why don't ya tell us what's going on."

"I wish I knew," admitted the Doctor. "I was letting Donna fly the TARDIS- Donna!"

"Donna?" asked Zoe.

"Yeah, nice woman, big mouth, bigger heart. Where has she gone... And why are you here?"

"That's what we're asking you!" cried Jaime. While this man didn't look like the Doctor, he certainly spoke in riddles like his best friend.

"My TARDIS was shunted off course and, judging from your reactions, you were somehow taken from my TARDIS and put into my TARDIS..." The Doctor trailed off, not liking where this conclusion was leading. "But that would be the work of a genius. An expert in time distortion. A time traveller, maybe, and an ingenious operator. But the only people with that level of skill would be..."

"Doctor!" cried Jaime. The Doctor wheeled to see a familiar face pointing a strange gun at him. He froze, his world crashing down around him as he stared at the window.

"No," he whispered. "It can't be."

"Can't it?" said the woman. "Who else could master such a difficult operation?"

"But you burned," he said, tears forming in his eyes. "You all burned. I saw it happen... I made it happen."

"Oh you prattling fool," sneered the Rani. "You really don't know what's going on, do you? But, I must say, I am going to enjoy watching you suffer so many times over."

"Doctor!" cried Jaime, snapping the Doctor out of his funk. "It's a Cyberman!"

The Doctor spun, seeing the Cyberman stumble towards him. But it was more than that... Daleks, Silurians, Orgons, Sontarons, Quarks, even a Time Lord. All of the Doctor's failures, lumbering towards him.

"I'm sorry," he said, seeing his guilt laid out before him. "I'm so sorry."

"Ach stop complaining you daft fool," said Jaime, giving the Doctor a push. "Let's get back to the TARDIS, where it's safe."

The Doctor turned to his two companions, his friends who had trusted him, and who in turn he'd been forced to abandon when the Time Lords wiped their memories and sent them home. More guilt, standing in front of him, reminding him of his failures.

"Doctor," pleaded Zoe. The Doctor shook his head. There'd be time for self-pity later. His friend needed him, and he needed to be a hero. He straightened up and adjusted his tie.

"When I say run," he whispered. "Run."

He turned and faced the Rani.

"What's that you have there, hmm?" he asked, trying to appear calm and casual. "A sonic disruptor. That would certainly make someone's day worst. Thing is, though, it's just an over-complicated sonic screwdriver, and, well," he smiled, pulling out his own device, "you just can't beat the original. Run!"

As the Doctor yelled that he pointed his screwdriver at the device, pressing one of the buttons. Immediately a high-pitched alarm blared out of it, causing everyone in the local area, monster and human, to stop in shock. The Rani dropped the device and covered her ears, as the Doctor and his companions took off back to safety.

As the Doctor barrelled into the TARDIS, companions in tow, he tried to ignore the feeling of nostalgia washing over him. It was fun seeing the two of them again, but now wasn't the time to focus on that. He quickly set to work fiddling with the controls.

"Can I help, Doctor?" asked Zoe. The Doctor gave her a smile, remembering how brilliant his friend was.

"I need you to realign the transistor coils to oscillate at a prime frequency using the Fibonacci sequence," said the Doctor, jumping to another part of the console.

"What about me?" asked Jaime.

"Hold down that lever."

The Doctor couldn't help but enjoy himself. Yes, there was danger afoot, and everything was seriously wrong, but why not have a little fun w-

He froze, eyes squeezed shut, hand on head. Something was desperately trying to get through his mental barriers to reach him. Had he been younger he'd have written it off as a psychic attack and repealed it in kind, but there was something familiar about all this...

"Contact," he whispered, trying to understand the message that was being sent. It was bouncing wildly around his timeline, from his future self, back to his past, back to him. The same message, repeated and amplified, but getting scrambled in the mix. Like telephones all trying to call the same line at once.

Visions popped up of the past and the future, all seemingly containing the same sequence of events, a sequence the Doctor seemed to be repeating now. There was a conflicting message... His future telling him to stay, his past telling him to leave right away. So much chaos in his head.

"Doctor," came Jaime's voice, though it sounded like an echo, or as if it was underwater. Zoe, still working on her calculations, was too absorbed to notice his struggle.

The pain was getting too much, and the Doctor had no idea what to do. Unfortunately, the choice was made for him. For just as Zoe finished the sequence to allow for instant demilitarization the console violently lurched.

" _Excellent," said the Rani, as she saw the Doctor's TARDIS warp and distort itself in unusual ways, like a fly trying to get itself free from a spider's web. "Only one more Doctor is needed to truly ensnare them, and then they'll never be able to escape. Not without taking themselves, their companions, and this entire dimension with them!"_

" _Which one shall we get next?" asked her partner in her ear, eagerly awaiting orders in the TARDIS._

" _Oh I know exactly which one I want to suffer the most," she sneered. "The one who so humiliated me. The one who thinks he can plan his way out of this... Yes, he'll be the one who suffers the most!"_


	7. Chapter 7 Part 1

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, the Doctor holding onto his umbrella as it held firm to the console. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"Right then," he said, rolling his r's and brushing some dust of his question mark sweater. "What was that all about then?"

He waited, knowing at any moment his companion would ask him a question about what had happened, and he'd get a chance to show off how brilliant he was... or at least stall while he himself tried to figure it out.

But there was not 'Professor'. There was no question. The Doctor looked up to see his companion completely gone. He quickly scanned the console room, but she wasn't there.

"Ace?" he asked, concerned. Something had just snatched his friend from the TARDIS, while also managing to time ram him almost out of existence. "Ace!"

The only response he got was the TARDIS shuddering as it landed. The Doctor checked the instruments. Everything seemed fine, and it was no use hiding away inside his TARDIS. Something took his friend, and they were going to regret it greatly.

"Ace!" cried the Doctor, as he stepped out the TARDIS. "Are you here?"

"None of your friends are here Doctor," said a cruel, familiar voice. "There's only you."

"The Rani," scowled the Doctor, turning to face his arch-foe pointing some sort of fancy gun towards him. "I should have known you were the one behind all this. Who else could so skilfully mess with the fabric of space and time. I'd admire your genius if it wasn't so despicable."

"Spare me your dribble Doctor," said the Rani dryly. "Keep quiet, and you might just learn something."

"What are you doing here?" demanded the Doctor. "And what have you done with Ace?"

"Oh your poor, slow little man," laughed the Rani. "You really have no idea what's going on, do you?"

"I know you were the one who hi-jacked my TARDIS and brought me here, 23rd November, 1993, in the East End of London. I also know you've been messing about with my timeline, and that you've also taken me to 1972 and 2013. But to what end?"

"Isn't it obvious Doctor? A most ingenious trap, if I say so myself. Oh come now, do you need me to spell it out for you?"

"You might as well," said the Doctor. "Who am I to deny a good monologue."

The Rani sneered, but her ego got in the way of her common sense.

"You see, Doctor, it's a simple time loop. You arrive with your companion, realize something is amiss, and then precisely 737 seconds after you arrive you try to leave, causing you to be thrown back through the time loop to begin again."

"A simple time loop?" said the Doctor. "I fail to see why you'd go through all this trouble for such a childish toy."

"Oh my dear Doctor, how I pity your limited scope. Yes, one time loop would be nothing... but three, happening simultaneously... Yes, even your TARDIS would struggle to get out of that one. You could of course do it, with time... the one thing you do not have!"

"In what way?" said the Doctor, as he started counting down the seconds in his head.

"You see, Doctor, it's your friends that make you weak. All I had to do was use the time scoop to jumble up your companions, and you become too distracted with their safety to see the bigger picture. Add to that the excruciating pain of your past and future selves being trapped in the time loop and, well, you just don't have enough time to figure it all out."

"But now that I know your plan, what's to stop me from thwarting it?"

"You think you can break yourself out of three time loops at the same time? Don't be absurd. Even if you could co-ordinate with your past selves, you'll never be able to focus on so many things at once."

"So that's your plan... Tell me, why the East End of all places?"

"Can you think of any worse place to torture you?"

The Doctor had to admit, she had a point. Still, if he kept her talking, she might slip up and reveal something of key importance.

"Why do all this?" asked the Doctor. "It seems like an awful lot of effort?"

"Why?" spat the Rani. "Why? Because of all the terrible things you have done to this universe, Doctor. All the havoc you have caused with your decisions. Thanks to you, our entire race is going to be wiped out, including me! You think I'm just going to stand by and let us doom you all. No, if you're here, trapped forever in this dimension of time, then your interference will be gone. The Daleks will be destroyed, and the Time War will never happen!"

The Doctor said nothing, clearly aware that he was being told future events he had yet to have a part of. Instead his mind raced with possibilities, as he tried to work out the best way of beating the Rani and escaping this predicament.

"One more thing," asked the Doctor. "How do you plan to escape the trap yourself?"

"Oh Doctor," she said, as she levelled the gun. "You really think I'd tell you?"

"You can't kill me, can you," said the Doctor quickly. "Doing so would disrupt your plan."

"I'm not going to kill you," said the Rani, a devilish grin on her face. "This sonic beam will leave you in unending agony, lasting just long enough for you to make your way back to the TARDIS, at which point the whole cycle will begin again. So while this will only last a few minutes-" She let out a chuckle and aimed the gun "it's going to feel like centuries. Goodbye, Doctor. Enjoy being stranded here forever!"

END OF PART 1


	8. Chapter 7 Part 2

DIMENSIONS IN TIME PART 2

"Goodbye, Doctor" said the Rani as she levelled her sonic disruptor at the Doctor. "Enjoy being stranded here forever!"

"That's what you think," said a strange voice. She turned to see a baseball bat fly seemingly out of nowhere, smashing the device out of her hand and onto the ground.

"Don't just stand there," said the woman. "Run you clever boy."

The Doctor, never one to miss an opportunity, took back off to the TARDIS. He heard the Rani scream out orders to her minions, but he wasn't going to hang around to find what that was all about.

He'd made it back to the TARDIS to see his saviour standing there, waiting for him. He eyed her suspiciously but, given the circumstance, it was probably safer to keep her in the TARDIS than out of it.

"I suppose you can tell me what's going on?" he asked the stranger.

"I would," she said. "If I had any idea what was happening. I'm Clara, by the way."

"Lovely to meet you," said the Doctor. "Tell me, how did you get Ace's bat?"

"You gave it to me," said Clara. "Well not you you, but..."

"A future incarnation of me?" concluded the Doctor. "Yes, it seems like something I would do. And you're a future companion of mine?"

"Well... Yes and no."

"Oh?"

"I'm actually a splintered version of myself tasked with saving you. The Great Intelligence, he had... has... will have... entered your personal time stream to corrupt it. I jumped in to save it, resulting in me being duplicated across all time and space. As such, I'm one of the duplicates who is meant to help but, thanks to your future self, I have the memories of the original version. I must say, remembering two different lives is hard."

"Try seven," said the Doctor drily. "So my future self used your original self to send a message back through time in order to save me and get me out of this mess?"

"I presume so," said Clara. "I honestly stopped keeping track of events after the third loop. Though I must say, you're a really difficult person to save. You don't notice I'm there half the time."

"All the better," said the Doctor. "Now, did my future self tell you how to get us out of this mess?"

"Well when I last saw her she was fading out of existence," said Clara, "and had me merge with the TARDIS to do this so... I'm honestly only here to help."

"Never mind," said the Doctor. "I think I know what I'm trying to do."

The Doctor said nothing, calming his mind. If he knew himself well, he knew that whichever ones were trapped in the time loop would be urgently trying to contact the others to warn them. But if they were all trapped in the time loop, they'd be sending the same message at the same time, overloading their brains. No, he couldn't send a psychic message like he wanted to, and it wouldn't be long before he was incapacitated by his other selves trying to send the message to him.

"Right then," he said, counting down the seconds in his head as he started to fiddle with the controls.

"What's the plan?" asked Clara eagerly.

"Well the Rani made a big mistake by not putting me off guard like she has with my other selves," said the Doctor. "No doubt I would have been too distracted if one of past or future companions turned up at the same time. No, her boasting has given me an opportunity to program in a dampening field in the TARDIS, to shield my future self from the psychic attack."

"That's great!" said Clara.

"Except I can't say when exactly it'll go off," said the Doctor glumly. "Nor which incarnation it will work with. I just have to hope whichever one it is has my brains."

"I see..." said Clara. Her face suddenly became concerned as the Doctor froze, his mind being swamped by the same message.

"Contact," he hissed, trying to calm down the flood.

"Doctor?" Clara asked. The Doctor put his hand up, working on the TARDIS. Gritting his teeth, he worked through the pain to complete his mission.

"Past me the bat," he hissed, hooking it up to the console. With a press of a few buttons the familiar sound was heard, but instead of the TARDIS disappearing, the bat did.

"Where did you..." began Clara.

"I've sent it bouncing around the time loop," said the Doctor quickly, before the pain hit him again. "Hopefully you'll have a chance to use it. Not long now."

The Doctor started the demilitarization sequence.

"You need to get out," said the Doctor to Clara. "When the time ram happens you need to be outside the TARDIS to avoid being affected." Clara nodded and left, leaving the Doctor alone.

He sighed, and finished the sequence. Hopefully, one of his future selves would be able to figure out how to get themselves free from this jam. If not, then he had an eternity to look forward to doing the same thing... forever.

" _The Doctor," began the Rani's companion._

" _Oh it's of no matter," she sneered, as she entered back into her TARDIS. "He is trapped, like the rest of them. Forced to obey the rules of time, he couldn't break them if he tried."_

" _So is the plan complete?" asked the companion._

" _Almost," said the Rani. "Now with that Doctor trapped here, I just need to lure in his other incarnations. Once they're all here I can seal off this dimension, and they can be trapped here for the rest of time."_


	9. Chapter 8

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, the Doctor holding onto the console, his multi-coloured coat fluttering around him. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud, banging his head as he fell.

"Ooh" he groaned, clutching his head in pain. He didn't feel the regeneration energy starting, which was good, since dying by banging his head on the console would probably be the worst way to go.

"What's going on?" asked a loud, shrill voice that only added to the Doctor's headache. "What have you done Doctor?"

"What have I done?" he asked, slowly getting to his feet. "What have you done. I can't just have random women teleporting into my TARDIS like that. It would set a dangerous precipitant."

"You're not the Doctor," said the woman crossly.

"I most certainly am," replied the Doctor indignantly.

"No you're not," retorted the woman. "The Doctor would never wear something so... hideous."

"I beg your pardon?" said the Doctor, appalled.

"Are you playing Joseph?" the woman asked.

"I'll have you know, madam, that this is the height of sophistication amongst some highly advanced societies. But enough of this. Who are you, and what are you doing in my TARDIS?"

"I'm Donna," said the woman. "And this isn't your TARDIS. This is the Doctor's TARDIS."

"And I am the Doctor," repeated the Doctor, before pausing. He let out a groan. "Oh of course," he said. "You must be a companion of my future self."

"You what?" said Donna. The Doctor sighed again.

"I know this is going to be hard to believe," began the Doctor. "But the man you travel with, well... he is me. He may look different to me, but I assure you, we're the same man."

"Prove it," said Donna. "He has two hearts. Do you?" The Doctor let out a small smile and beckoned her over, holding his chest out. Cautiously Donna crept forward, putting his hand on one side of his chest, than the other. She stepped back, shocked.

"Satisfied?" he asked.

"But why the coat?" she replied. The Doctor groaned, but was interrupted by the TARDIS landing.

"That's odd," he said. "I don't remember programming any co-ordinates... Peri!" He looked up, shocked at how long it took him to realize his companion was missing. Despite the bickering he did care for her deeply. He was about to run to the door when he stopped, pausing.

"No," he said slowly. "No, that's exactly what I'd do." He turned and went back to the console.

"What's going on?" asked Donna. "We landed, didn't we?"

"We must certainly did," said the Doctor. "But I didn't guide us here. And whatever was powerful enough to bring us here and swap Peri with you must also want me to step outside into the trap. Yes, they would know that I would rush out irrationally to work out what was going on. But not this time, you hear me! I'm going to leave right away!"

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Donna. "At least see where we are first."

"The East End of London," said the Doctor, glancing at the controls.

"So you mean I'm home?" Donna asked eagerly. Without hesitation she flicked the door controls and ran out the door before the Doctor could stop her. He sighed, frustratingly, and followed her out.

"This isn't home," said Donna angrily. "It looks like I'm in the middle of a soap opera."

"I had a nightmare like that once," said the Doctor off-handedly. "And another where a bunch of Sontarons attacked the TARDIS, only to be saved by a child."

"What are you talking about?" said Donna.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," said the Doctor, waving his hand dismissively. "But the East End of London is certainly an unusual place to arrive."

"Why did you take me here?"

"I told you, I didn't take us here... some malevolent force has taken the TARDIS off-track, and is no doubt using this place as its base of operations."

"And where's the Doctor," repeated Donna.

"I told you, I am- No. No this doesn't feel right at all." The Doctor stood, hands on hips, looking around the landscape. Something was bugging him, he could feel it. Something wasn't adding up.

"Doctor!" cried Donna in terror.

"Oh now you believe me," he said, turning before he himself froze in shock. Standing just a few feet away was a stone angel, arms outstretched, fangs bared.

"Oh my word," he said, pushing Donna behind him. "Whatever you do, don't blink!"

"What is it Doctor?" asked Donna.

"A weeping angel," said the Doctor. "Creatures that can move incredibly fast when not being observed. Now, carefully, back to the TARDIS!"

They backed away, slowly, making sure not to take their eyes off the monster. Eventually they got back to the TARDIS, the Doctor hurrying his companion through the door, before stopping at the edge.

"Come on Doctor," cried Donna, standing in the TARDIS.

"Why did you call me Doctor?" asked the Doctor.

"Well that's your name," replied Donna.

"But moments ago you refused to accept it... And now you're acting like my usual companion. No, I don't like this, this doesn't add up."

"You can't just stay out there Doctor!"

"Can't I? Well we'll see about that."

As he spoke a Dalek trundled into view, the eye stalk turning to glare at him.

"EXTERMINATE," cried the monster, but the Doctor stood his ground. No, he did not accept the reality of the situation. This was all wrong.

It was then the attack hit him. A large psychic blast, telling him everything that was happening to his past and future selves in one go. He stumbled, falling back into the TARDIS, into a heap on the floor.

"I'll get us out of here Doctor," said Donna. The Doctor looked up, trying to signal to his new companion why that was a bad idea, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything except try to protect his mind from the searing pain racing through it. He felt it in his heads, he felt it in his hearts. He wasn't sure where the pain was hitting, and no doubt different versions of him would feel it in different places. But he had to stop his companion from dooming them all.

He had just got to his feet when the TARDIS violently lurched.

" _That was a close one, wasn't it ma'am?" asked the Rani's accomplice._

" _Only to a simpleton like yourself," retorted the Rani. "The Doctor is ever predictable, always going after his companion no matter what the scenario. It won't be long now before the same pattern repeats forever."_

" _Do you not feel as if we're in the same patten?" asked the accomplice, concerned. "After all, we seem to be doing the same thing time and again?"_

 _The Rani scowled at the fool. "Do you think I'd be so stupid to put us into the time loop," she snarled._

" _Of course not, mistress," said the accomplice. "I was just remarking on how absurd it all was. How much longer until it is completed?"_

" _Completed?" said the Rani, before laughing. "Of course, you don't understand. There aren't three time loops. No, the Doctor was trapped the moment she left her TARDIS. This is now all that will happen to the Doctor... forever."_


	10. Chapter 9

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, the Doctor holding onto the console, his tan coat fluttering around him. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"Right then," he said, getting up and adjusting the celery stick on his lapel. "Feels like I was caught in some sort of time eddy. Nyssa, could you just run some temporal scans."

"Whose Nyssa?" asked an unknown voice in a Scottish accent. The Doctor looked up to see a redhead woman and an unassuming man staring back at him.

"Ah," the Doctor said, recalculating in his head on how to fix the situation. "I don't suppose any of you know how to recalibrate a temporal scanner?"

"Where's the Doctor?" asked the woman angrily.

"Well, that would be me," the Doctor said, giving a cheerful smile. "And you are?"

"I'm Rory," said the man. "And this is my wife, Amy."

"And you're not the Doctor," said Amy, confidently stepping forward to look the Doctor up and down. "Where is he? What have you done with him?"

"A future regeneration, no doubt," said the Doctor to himself, thankful that Nyssa and Tegan already knew about if the situation arose again.

"I'm sorry," said Rory, "but what is going on? This is the TARDIS, yes?"

"Yes, that's right," said the Doctor. "And I am the Doctor. It's a bit, err, difficult, to explain."

"Well you better start talking quickly mister," said Amy, standing in front of the Doctor, eyes piercing into his.

"You better do as she says," said Rory.

"Well I'm sure I can relieve your worries," said the Doctor, but was cut off by the TARDIS landing. He furrowed his brow and went over to look at the controls.

"How odd," he said, checking the instruments. "We appear to be in the East End of London."

"When?" asked Rory.

"I don't know," admitted the Doctor. "Readings are all over the place."

"Well lets go out and investigate," said Amy and, before the Doctor could react, she switched the door open lever and was out the TARDIS. Her husband gave an apologetic look, shrugged, and followed her out. The Doctor sighed, before doing the same.

"This is certainly the East End," agreed Amy. "But why does everything look... different."

"You mean like the monorail?" answered Rory, nodding to it as it shot on by. "Fairly certain there wasn't one in London when we left."

"There shouldn't be one at all," said the Doctor. "Not till the twenty-second century. Excuse me ladies," he asked, flagging down a lovely couple by a stall. "Can you tell me what year this is?"

"Why, it's 1973, isn't it?" said the first lady.

"Aye?" said the second. "It's 1993, thank you very much."

"I think you'll find it's 2013," said a third, who was always willing to have a good nosy poke at what was going on.

"They can't be all right, can they Doctor?" asked Amy.

"Depends," said the Doctor slowly.

"On what?" asked Rory.

"If time really exists here..." said the Doctor, trailing of confused. He walked around, picking up a newspaper off the ground. Try as he might, he could seem to get it to focus, as it kept swirling in front of him.

"Doctor?" asked Amy.

"This appears to be a dimension in time," said the Doctor, putting the newspaper in his coat. "But one that appears to be rapidly shrinking."

Rory and Amy said nothing, just looking at the Doctor in befuddlement. The Doctor sighed, and tried to think of a way of explaining it.

"You are aware of how space is often seen in three dimensions? Up and down, left and right, forward and back? Well time moves in sort of the same way... generally speaking, that is. But something is right. Imagine, if you will, that your three dimensions shrunk down to two, and you found yourself living in a flatland in a 2D plane."

"I'm officially lost," said Rory.

"Put simply," said the Doctor. "Time seems to be collapsing here, moving into an ever smaller point. Dimensions in time are becoming dimension, singular. And that's not good."

"Why not?" asked Amy.

"Imagine your entire being being compressed into a dot," said the Doctor, looking around. "Now imagine that on a temporal scale."

"So we should investigate what is happening?" asked Amy. "Maybe find out the cause."

"No," said the Doctor. "No we should get out of here right away. Come on! Back to the TARDIS."

"You're just going to leave?" asked Amy. "You're not going to explore, figure it out?"

"I've learned my mistake from last time," said the Doctor, fiddling with the controls. "No, better to leave now, before we get trapped in a loop."

"What about Nyssa?" asked Amy. "And Tegan?" The Doctor paused, and looked up at them. His calm, pleasant face had turned hard.

"Who told you about Tegan?" asked the Doctor icily.

"You did," said Rory.

"I did no such thing," said the Doctor. "My memory is quite good, thank you, and I know I didn't mentioned the New Zealander."

"Sure you did," said Amy. "You mentioned how you met her in JFK."

The Doctor said nothing, staring at the two of them. Without a word he turned and went back to the controls.

"Doctor?" asked Amy. "Doctor!" she repeated forcefully, when the man ignored her.

"I don't know who you are," he said, back to the two of them. "And I don't know what you are. And if we weren't currently in mortal peril I'd be asking a lot more questions from the two of you. But whatever you are, leave now, and bring my friends back to me."

"What do you mean?" asked Rory.

"Tegan isn't a New Zealander I met at JFK," said the Doctor, whirling round suddenly. "She's an Australian I plan to take back to Heathrow again. But the only way you'd have come to that conclusion is if you were reading my mind, as I specifically set that trap up for you. So, what are you, and what do you want?"

Before anyone could answer the pain shot through the Doctor's back, hunching him over in two. This was some sort of psychic attack to be sure. Different parts of his body flared up in pain, entirely inconsistently. Clearly the aliens in front of him must be attacking him with a psychic blast. With all his concentration he used his immense willpower to throw it back at them, to break their concentration.

He only just realized his mistake when the console room violently lurched.

" _Excellent," said the Rani. "Another one caught. Soon there'll be nothing stopping me-"  
"Pause," said the accomplice. The scene froze. Wearily the accomplice rubbed his temple. Yes, his plan was working perfectly, and the Rani was providing the Doctor with a good distraction. Puzzles upon puzzles, none of which lead to the answer. It was just tiresome, however, to hear the same thing being repeated over and over again. He almost pitied the Doctor for going through the same thing._

 _Still, the trap he set was working. The stupid fool was running through the same loop, again and again, never having a chance to get their bearings, never realizing what was actually going on. The accomplice glanced at the heads floating around them. Each one signified a part of the Doctor that had succumbed to the loop without realizing it._

 _Still, it was yet complete. Parts of the Doctor resisted. Some were better than others. He needed to create bigger distractions to really stop the Doctor from figuring out. Yes, that would work._

" _Go," he said._

" _From having the Doctor out of my way once and for all!" finished the Rani. "Now... I know just how to make him suffer next."_


	11. Chapter 10

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, the Doctor holding onto the console, his Edwardian jacket. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"Come now old girl," he said, getting up and brushing off his almost fancy-dress costume. "What was that all about?"

"Doctor?" asked a familiar voice.

"What have you done to the TARDIS?" asked another with an all too familiar Australian twang. The Doctor couldn't help but smile.

"Nyssa," he said, beaming. "Tegan. Lovely to see you here. I must say, I am confused."

"So are we," said Tegan. "Have you regenerated?"

"Well, yes and no," said the Doctor in a non-committal way. "But the important thing is that you're here with me. It's so nice to see you."

"What's going on Doctor?" asked Nyssa.

"I haven't the foggiest idea," admitted the Doctor. "I'm just as confused as you are... But I do have a very serious case of deja vu that is driving me wild."

"What's with all the Gothic architecture?" asked Tegan. "It looks so... formal. Like a church."

"Oh that was my predecessor," said the Doctor. "Tended to be a bit arrogant of himself, wanted this place to feel 'grand' as he travelled alone. Still, I quite like it. It's a lovely change of pace."

The TARDIS shuddered as it landed, though it sounded slightly different, like it was more effort.

"That's not good," said the Doctor, looking at his console. "What's the matter?"

"Maybe we should go outside and check?" asked Nyssa.

"Capital idea," said the Doctor, grinning wildly. "Come on! I want to see where we are."

"Why have you brought us to London?" asked Tegan, somewhat disappointed.

"I didn't bring you anywhere," said the Doctor. "The TARDIS seemed to come here of its own accord... or was pulled off course."

"Is that possible, Doctor?" asked Nyssa.

"If someone was skilled enough," replied the Doctor. "I only know a few minds that could do it." He stopped and looked around, confused. His eyes glanced upwards at the sky.

"This is Earth, isn't it?" asked Nyssa.

"Certainly is," said Tegan. "Not far from Heathrow, actually. I have to hand it to this Doctor, he's surprisingly good at getting us where we need to go."

"That's odd," said the Doctor, still looking up.

"What is?" asked Tegan.

"Well on a day like this, with a sky this clear, we should be able to see the moon," said the Doctor. "And yet I can't find it... Also the sun."

"The sun?" asked Nyssa.

"It isn't producing enough light... Tell me, does this seem darker than it should be for the middle of the day?"

"I don't know what you mean Doctor," said Tegan. "Everything looks fine to me."

"Hmm," said the Doctor, walking around the streets. Around him people chatted away, ignoring the presence of these strangers entirely. The Doctor stopped near the park, before falling flat on his stomach and peering very carefully at a blade of grass.

Nyssa and Tegan exchanged glances. While this sort of behaviour wasn't entirely unusual for the Doctor, it was still a little bit odd. Before one of them could ask for an explanation, the Doctor stood up.

"This isn't good," he said gravely.

"What isn't?" asked Nyssa.

"The grass," he said. "It's too short."

"I'm sure the gardener will be highly offended," said Tegan in dry wit.

"No, not that its been cut," said the Doctor. "It's too short because there isn't enough there. See," he bended down, picking a blade of grass. "Look at the tip. It doesn't curve into an arrow like normal grass, it just... disappears. As if the rest of it doesn't exist."

"Grass looks like grass to me Doctor," said Tegan.

"Doctor!" cried yet another unknown voice. The three of them turned round to see a woman running towards them in the park.

"Hello there," said the Doctor, smiling. "I take it you must be some future companion of mine."

"Clara," said Clara, by the way of introductions. "Doctor, listen to me. You need to leave here right now."

"Not until I figure out what's going on," said the Doctor.

"No, don't you see," said Clara. "That's part of the trap! Your curiosity getting the best of you. You have to leave right now."

"Why?" asked the Doctor, scanning her face.

"You know why," she said, frustratedly. "You can feel it."

"Yes, I noticed something wrong was time here," said the Doctor.

"What's wrong with time?" asked Nyssa.

"It's not moving," replied the Doctor. "Not in how you'd perceive it," he continued, cutting Tegan off. "No while things appear to be moving, this place is lacking actual time. It's just one dimension in time."

"And that's why you have to leave," said Clara urgently.

"But why am I in a dimension of time?" asked the Doctor, concerned, ignoring Clara. "Why did the TARDIS bring me here? What caused all this?"

"Look, there's no time to explain," said Clara urgently. "You just have to leave right away."

The Doctor said nothing, looking at Clara, studying her carefully. His face softened.

"You're right," he said. "Right, lets go back."

"Not so fast, Doctor," said the Rani, appearing near the pub. "You won't deny me my revenge."

"The Rani," said the Doctor.

"Who?" asked Nyssa and Tegan, almost in unison.

"A renegade Time Lord, like the Master," said the Doctor. "What is it-"

"Doctor!" cried Clara urgently. "Don't get distracted. Get back to the TARDIS, now!"

"But the Rani-" began the Doctor.

"She isn't here," said Clara. "None of this is." The Doctor said nothing, trying to work out what was happening. Then, as if on cue, monsters started to appear, slowly moving towards them, creating only one path to escape.

"Just go," said Clara, a baseball bat seemingly coming out of nowhere. "I'll hold them off."

"What do you-" began the Doctor, before he found himself being pulled along by Nyssa and Tegan. He briefly turned to them, telling them to stop. When he turned back, Clara was gone.

"Come on, Doctor," said Tegan angrily, pulling at the Time Lord. The Doctor stopped struggling and let himself be dragged back to the TARDIS.

"Shall I start the take-off sequence Doctor?" asked Nyssa, moving towards the controls.

"No," said the Doctor. "Stay where you are. I need time to work this out."

"Work what out?" asked Tegan, but the Doctor said nothing, thinking hard. Clearly something was going terribly wrong, and his sense of deja vu was only getting bigger. This had happened before, several times, but the Doctor couldn't work out what.

He moved over to the controls, pressing a few buttons.

"What are you doing?" asked Tegan.

"Nyssa, I need your help," he said, focusing solely on his work. "Reroute the telepathic circuitry through an electron stabilizer and boost the signal by three hundred percent."

"On it," said Nyssa.

"Tegan, I need you as well," he continued. "Stand here." Tegan did as she was told, giving him a confused look as he attached electrodes to her forehead.

"You've had one of the strongest wills I've ever known," said the Doctor. "You defeat the Kinda. So I need you to concentrate on Heathrow. All of your mind."

"Why?"

"I'm hoping to jump-start the TARDIS out of this loop," explained the Doctor. "I think it's why you were chosen specifically. Granted I wish Romana was here, she'd be a bigger help. She was travelling with me not too long ago, in between his presidency."

"I hope you know what you're doing Doctor," said Tegan warily.

"As do I," muttered the Doctor. "No matter what happens, do not think of anything else. You two must focus on exactly what you're doing."

As he said that the Doctor moved to a chair he had in the TARDIS. He managed to sit down just as the attack started. It was like his entire body was on fire, a psychic blast being echoed again and again throughout a loop, amplifying each time. It was earlier than he expected. How much longer until all he had was the pain, looping for eternity, getting stronger every time but never quite letting him die.

Nevertheless he stayed as silent as still as he could. He couldn't afford his companions to be distracted, not if he were to be free of the loop. He concentrated on something his old mentor had taught him to manage the pain, to find his peace.

But the pain got too much, and he let out a scream of agony. Nyssa and Tegan looked up, confused. The Doctor cursed himself, hoping that the next incarnation would do better.

It was at that moment the console lurched.

" _Close, Doctor," said the accomplice. "So close." He looked around the empty TARDIS, the Rani still outside on the street. He wondered if he should call her back in... no, better to leave her out there. The ranting was getting on his nerves._

 _It wouldn't be much longer now. Soon the Doctor would be trapped, reduced to a single, agonizing, unending point in time. A dark dimension where there was no hope, no escape, nothing but his own misery and sadness. The loop only had to repeat four more times, to lure in all the current incarnations, before snapping completely._

 _He permitted himself a small laugh. Soon the Doctor would be out of his way for good. And a universe without the Doctor... well, it was scarcely worth thinking about._


	12. Chapter 11

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, the Doctor holding onto the console, his maroon cape fluttering around him. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"Dear me," he said, getting up, brushing off his velvet jacket and adjusting his frills. "What was that all about. If it was the Time Lords again..."

"You rang?" asked a strange voice. The Doctor looked up to see a Time Lady standing opposite them.

"Whatever it is I'm not interested," said the Doctor. "In fact I'm leaving right now." He started to set the controls to depart from wherever he'd landed.

"Oh I'm just as confused as you," admitted the Time Lady. "I was travelling with your eighth incarnation before I suddenly found myself here. Some time scoop of sorts, located squarely in your TARDIS."

"So you weren't sent here by the lord president?" asked the Doctor suspiciously.

"I certainly didn't send myself."

"You're the President? What happened to the other fellow."

"You mean Pandak the fifth? Died, unfortunately. And after you left the presidency Borusa took over, and he was the last one to use the time scoop... Wouldn't surprise me if he was behind all this."

"Madam you are talking nonsense," said the Doctor. "In what lifetime would I ever become president of Gallifrey?"

"You're next one," said Romana. "Anyway, the more important question is what I'm doing here."

"Leaving, I hope," said the Doctor.

"What was the last thing you remember?" asked Romana.

"I was working on my TARDIS with Jo... Where is Jo? What have you done with her!"

"I have no idea,' admitted Romana honestly. "Whoever scooped me up scooped her up as well."

The conversation ended abruptly as the TARDIS suddenly landed.

"Where have you taken us?" asked the Doctor.

"Once again, I don't know," said Romana, somewhat wearily. "Doctor, I'm in just as much as the dark as you are."

The Doctor grunted disapprovingly, before opening the TARDIS doors and stepping outside, Romana following in his footsteps.

"You feel that, don't you?" asked the Doctor.

"The fact that time doesn't seem to exist here?" replied Romana. "In my hearts. This isn't natural."

"Clearly some powerfully malevolent force is at work here," said the Doctor. "Already this reality seems to be crumbling."

The walked down the street, peeking at buildings with missing areas, people with missing parts. They didn't seem any the wiser, continuing on with their day. The Doctor looked at a woman who had the left half of her face... gone. No blood, no gore, just complete emptiness. Like a half completed painting.

"This dimension in time is collapsing," said the Doctor grimly. "These poor non-existent souls. Unaware of what is happening to them."

"So what are we going to do, Doctor?" asked Romana.

"'ere," said one of the women. "Are you a Doctor? My cousin needs one right away."

"I shall visit him in my own time madam," he said crossly, ignoring the fact that she was standing on only one leg. Her body didn't wobble though, it was as if the other leg was there in theory, if not in reality.

"Oh right grumpy old cod you are," she sniffed, before getting back to work.

"Why has the TARDIS brought me here," said the Doctor. "And where's Sarah Jane Smith?"

"I'm not sure," said Romana. "Probably with your eighth incarnation. If you want I can create a temporal homing beacon to try and lock onto her position?"

"I'm not sure how much a temporal homing beacon is going to help us here," said the Doctor, gingerly stepping over a pothole that revealed nothing but a void underneath. "But it's my duty to find her, wherever she is. I just hope she hasn't come trapped here."

"Back to the TARDIS then?" The Doctor was about to agree, then stopped in fear. Around the corner trundled... well, in theory, it was a Dalek. But in practice...

"Not even they are safe," said Romana, as the broken mess trundled towards them, gun disappeared, dome top eroded away. All round them monsters appeared, but each disintegrating before their very eyes.

"All my worst fears," mused the Doctor, rubbing the back of his neck. "Clearly this was designed to frighten me... but whatever created this place is clearly weakening."

"What could create such a place?" asked Romana in confusion.

"The Celestial Toymaker?" the Doctor suggested. "The Master of Fiction. The Guardians of Reality. But the better question is who would go through so much trouble just to trap me?"

"Well whatever it is," said Romana, "we better figure it out fast."

"Quite right," said the Doctor. "Back to the TARDIS then."

The two Gallifreyans crossed the threshold and walked the console, setting their plan into motion, Romana with her temporal homing beacon, the Doctor with the scanner.

"It appears that we're... nowhere," said the Doctor, brow furrowed. "Outside of space and time, in some pocket dimension of some sorts."

"I'll try to boost the scanner," said Romana. "See if we can locate any other sentient beings here."

Carefully she started to work the console, stopped when the Doctor let out a scream.

"Contact," he snarled, before collapsing to the floor. Romana ran over to him, kneeling beside her friend. The Doctor writhed on the floor in pain.

Without a second thought she placed one hand on the TARDIS, another on the Doctor, concentrating. Soon she was racked with pain, but it made it way through her into the TARDIS. The TARDIS wouldn't like it, but the girl was big enough to take it.

It only took a few moments, but the pain had passed. Shakily the Doctor got to his feet.

"A powerful psychic attack," he said. "Why would I want to attack myself like that?"

"I don't think you meant to," said Romana, looking at the readings. "I think you've been trying to send the same message to yourself, and you've gotten it caught in a time loop."

"Meaning every time it goes through it gets a little bit more intense," said the Doctor. "But a time loop? Here?"

"It's not unheard of," said Romana. "Entropy exists within a time loop, and eventually it will eat away at the world it is trapped in. That's why everything seems to be falling apart out there. Matter is running out of time, as the time is being used up."

"But to happen at that scale," said the Doctor slowly. "It must have happened over lifetimes. Several, in fact, all built up in one go."

A nasty thought crossed the Doctor's mind, and he checked his instruments.

"How long have I been trapped in this?" he asked carefully.

"It appears only three of your incarnations are free," replied Romana, checking the scans. "But if they were to land here and leave, they'd be caught in the loop as well."

"Then I must warn them," said the Doctor.

"How? You warning them might set off the pyschic attack that triggered it in the first place?"

"A message, then," said the Doctor. "Buried in the TARDIS for centuries. A warning."

Quickly he programmed away, aware at any moment the time loop could reset. He'd just finished doing his task when the console violently lurched.

" _Curse it,"_ _snarled the Rani's assistant, slamming his fist into the console. "The Doctor's good, I'll give him that. He almost escaped."_

" _What do you think you're doing?" said the Rani crossly, upset that the man she had rescued could be so disrespectful. She was about to threaten him by saying she'd put him back into the crashing ship, but was frozen once again by a flick of his wrist._

" _No, I mustn't give up," said the assistant. "Not when I'm so close to succeeding." He looked at the collection of heads spanning the walls of the TARDIS, a collection far more than he could ever hope to count._

" _Three more," he said softly. "I just need three more."_


	13. Chapter 12

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, the Doctor holding onto the console, his eyebrows scowling in anger. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"Right then," he said in a thick Scottish accent. "Here's where I come in."

"Doctor?" asked a familiar voice, an American twang to her accent.

"Hello Peri," he said cheerily. "Which one you with, bland or brash?"

"You regenerated?" she asked, confused.

"Brash it is. I must say, I do apologize for him, I was going through a mid-life crisis at the time, and the sixth incarnations are always the worst."

"What's going on?" asked Peri. The Doctor let out a massive grin.

"This is the part where I explain the plot," he said, walking to the doors. "Come now. I've only got one shot at this."

"Is this London?" asked Peri, trying to make sense of what was around her. It certainly looked like London, but she couldn't help but feel like something was... off.

"You can't see it, can you," said the Doctor. "Perception filter. It didn't work with Romana, but it'll work with you. And yet it's clearly nagging away, isn't it? That it isn't quite real?"

"It looks like the set of some sort of tacky soap opera," admitted Peri.

"Is that how your mind processes it?" asked the Doctor, as he put on his sunglasses. He scanned the area in front of him, before turning to face straight ahead.

"Come on out now," he said, frustrated. "Don't keep me waiting. I don't have all my life."

"Don't you?" sneered the Rani. The Doctor didn't react as she and her assistant stepped forward.

"Spare me the theatrics," said the Doctor. "I know what you are. I know why you're here. And I know that I will stop you."

"Will you?" sneered the Rani's assistant. "How do you plan to do that? Trapped, in this endless loop, as time slips away from you ever more."

"Doctor, what's going on?" asked Peri.

"You see," said the Doctor, "you made one big mistake. You thought my friends were my weakness. Clearly you don't understand anything."

"Ha," sneered the assistant. "You think your companions are so amazing? Face it, you'll forget them just like you forgot us."

The Doctor said nothing, staring the assistant down. He didn't blink as he and the Rani morphed, shrunk, changing into...

"John and Gillian," he said softly. "My grandchildren."

"Why did you forget us, Doctor?" asked Gillian. "Why did you leave us behind?"

"Grandchildren?" asked Peri, completely confused.

"We didn't deserve to be abandoned," said John icily.

The Doctor said nothing, looking down at the two children.

"You think you can just leave us here?" snarled John. "You're trapped here with us, Dr. Who. You're never going to leave."

"I'm sorry," said the Doctor. "You were a nice fantasy. But only that." He turned to leave, Peri following along out of habit. Behind him John and Gillian changed one again, back into the forms they had first presented.

"I'll shoot you," said the Rani, still holding her weapon.

"I don't doubt it," said the Doctor, not turning back round. "By all means, shoot me. It won't change what I've already done."

"Doctor," whispered Peri in concern, but the Doctor didn't break his stride. He confidently strolled across the quickly vanishing ground, back into the TARDIS, Peri quickly following suit.

"How do you know they wouldn't shoot you?" asked Peri.

"They can't afford to kill me," said the Doctor. "Or delay the loop any longer than necessary." As he spoke he placed his sunglasses in a small slot on the console, programming away.

"What are you doing?" asked Peri.

"I'd love to tell you," said the Doctor. "But I'm afraid you're not real. You're part of the trap. All my guilt, brought back, to remind me of all I've done wrong. All the people I've lost. To make me suffer."

He finished his calculation and stepped back.

"Thankfully my seventh incarnation warned me about this ahead of time," he said. "And with the help of my third, and Romana, I was able to get everything sorted."

"What do you mean I'm not real?" said Peri angrily. The Doctor looked at her, his face stricken with grief. He didn't have long, but he had to do it.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I took you into my care and I let you down. I've let so many of you down. Everything I've ever done, all the lives I've saved, the good I've accomplished... It was because of you. All of you. Because you remind me to be a better person every day. You remind me why I do what I do. I could never repay the debt you have all given me."

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" said Peri in confusion, but was cut off when the Doctor fell to the floor in pain. The psychic attack, as expected, was flooding his brain. It wouldn't be long until the shock killed him, wiping him out for good. He just had to hope that his plan worked, that it had all gotten through, that everything was lined up.

Hope in his heart, he didn't react when the TARDIS suddenly lurched.

 _John said nothing, staring at the Doctor's TARDIS warp and twist as it always did. He wondered if it occurred to the Doctor that he never really left, instead just bumping around in a repeating pattern. Not that it mattered. Two more. Two more, and there wouldn't be any version of the Doctor left. Two more, and his revenge would be complete._


	14. Chapter 13

The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, the Doctor holding onto the console, the old man hanging on for his life. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the Doctor landing on the floor with a thud.

"Now what's all this then?" he said crossly.

"Doctor," said an unusual voice. He looked up to see a strange woman standing in front of him.

"What have you done with my ship, hmm?" he said angrily. "And where's my grandchildren?"

"I don't know," said the woman. "But I recognize you. We met, on Gallifrey."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, young lady," said the Doctor testily.

"I'm Sarah Jane Smith," said the woman. "I'm a companion of the Doctor's."

"Are you really?" said the Doctor. "Well then, you can kindly tell me what you are doing on board my ship. Where is your Doctor?"

"I don't know," admitted Sarah Jane. "One moment I was in the TARDIS, and now I'm... here. Perhaps we should go outside, have a look around?"

"Perhaps we should," said the Doctor. "But only after I've finished my scans." Without pausing Sarah Jane leapt forward, pressing the door controls and bouncing outside. The Doctor sighed in annoyance and went to follow her.

Then stopped. The cloister bell, it was ringing. Pounding away throughout the console room. The Doctor hurried back to the controls. For some reason something was in his TARDIS.

"Hello," said a strange voice, oddly familiar but unable to place it. "Doctor, are you there? Doctor?"

"Yes, I'm here," said the Doctor grouchily. "Who is this?"

"It's the Doctor," said the voice. "Well, the Doctor from the future, at any rate. Listen, you must leave right now. It's urgent. Dematerialize immediately."

"Not without my grandchildren," the Doctor said stubbornly.

"Oh of all the," said the voice, but it cut off.

"Come on Doctor," said Sarah Jane Smith eagerly.

"How did you get back into the TARDIS?" asked the Doctor. "I didn't see you enter again. And believe me young lady, I keep a close eye on who comes in and out of my TARDIS."

"But your grandchildren are out here," said Sarah Jane Smith.

"Don't listen to her Doctor!" said another voice. The Doctor turned to see another strange woman standing in the console room.

"And who are you?" he asked.

"Clara," said the woman. "But, well, kind of. The Doctor sent me. He told me to get you to leave right now, before it's too late."

"Nonsense," said Sarah Jane Smith. "Don't listen to her. You can trust me."

"No Doctor," said Clara. "It's a trick. She's trying to trap you here."

"Oh come now Doctor," said a male voice. The Doctor turned to see Ian and Barbara standing with Sarah Jane Smith. "You're not really going to believe that stranger, are you?"

"I rather think he should," said another man. The Doctor spun round yet again, seeing some sort of soldier next to Clara. A brigadier, judging by his uniform. "Doctor, you can trust me. I'm your oldest friend. We've been through so much."

"I don't know what's going on," said the Doctor, confused. "I don't know who any of you are. I just want to know what's going on."

"You're here to help us grandfather," said John, having suddenly appeared in the console room. "Gillian's outside, and she wants you to come help us to defeat the Kleptons and Trods. Surely you can believe your own grandchildren?"

"Don't listen to him!" said Clara. "Please, Doctor, you have to trust me."

The Doctor shrank back, terrified. Whatever was happening, whatever had invaded his ship, it was clearly trying to attack his mind. Already he could feel his mental defences go up.

"I know you're scared," said Clara. "But fear makes companions of us all."

The Doctor paused, turning to Clara. He hadn't told anyone that, and yet, the voice... it had sounded so familiar. He thought he heard it in a dream.

"Grandfather!" screamed Gillian. The Doctor spun around yet again, seeing Gillian at the door, struggling against the monsters holding onto her. The Trod held one arm, the Klepton the other, and slowly they were pulling her outside the TARDIS. "Please, Dr Who, come outside and help us."

The Doctor turned away from Clara and the brigadier, moving towards his grandchildren. They needed help, and he wasn't going to let those nasty monsters win. As he moved he didn't notice everyone disappearing, the TARDIS growing dimmer, as if it was being swallowed by the blackness. He was at the door, ready to step outside into whatever darkness awaited him.

"Grandfather," said a soft, quiet voice. The Doctor froze. He turned, slowly, facing his one and only grand-daughter.

"Susan," he said, before breaking down in tears. "Oh Susan, how could I forget about you my girl."

"Grandfather, it's okay," she said, hugging the old man. "It's okay. But we need to leave, now. If you trust me, if you love me... please, leave. Now."

"Of course," said the Doctor, starting the dematerialization sequence, the console room suddenly bursting with light. He let out a small smile as the familiar sound filled the room, the TARDIS disappearing.


	15. Chapter 14

The console room stayed peaceful as the Doctor made his final calculations. It landed without a sound. The Doctor looked up, adjusted his bow-tie, and made his way to the doors. Flinging them open, to reveal...

"Hello," the Doctor said cheerfully. "Your plan failed. One of me escaped, all thanks to my various incarnations. The trap won't work. Even as we speak it's unravelling. Soon there'll be nothing left of this place. I must thank the next me for using his sonic sunglasses to send a telepathic link through the TARDIS, to create mental projections of those I trust the most. Without them I would have surely been trapped, but you sealed your own doom when you let me scan you. Course it's only thanks to my seventh incarnation that the shield was in place to protect him, and of course for Romana helping out greatly. That was your biggest mistake, by far. Surely you must have known giving me a Time Lady would have backfired? Still, I must say, I am proud of myself. It's not easy, creating a plan like this as your own mind is working against you."

"Curse you, Doctor!" said the Rani. "I shall have my revenge."

"No," said the Doctor, suddenly turning serious. The Rani looked at him in shock, before she and her assistant morphed.

"Please, grandfather," John asked, as Gillian looked hopeful.

"No," repeated the Doctor, his voice ice cold. Once again the two of them changed.

"You won't be free from me for long," sneered the Valeyard.

"No," the Doctor said, for a third time. "No more games. Lets end this."

The Valeyard sneered, before changing again to...

"Doctor," said the Great Intelligence, a bodiless form staring back at him.

"You know, you say you're the Great Intelligence," said the Doctor sarcastically. "But your plan wasn't very smart. Trying to use my companions against me? Surely you would know that would just make me stronger."

"You won't escape your own time line, Doctor," sneered the Great Intelligence. "Yes, you might have saved your companion, but you yourself haven't gotten free yet."

"Oh but I have," said the Doctor. "See, Clara, my impossible girl, she's been helping me this entire time. Thwarting your plans, giving me little bits of help. You were so busy focusing on me you didn't notice her dismantling your grand scheme. She kept me sane throughout all this."

"So you're just going to leave, are you," said the Great Intelligence. "Go back, back to the real world. You'd rather face reality than this dream?"

The Doctor said nothing, staring down the monster in front of him.

"I mean after all," said the Great Intelligence, before changing once more.

"If you stay here, you could right your wrongs," said a young boy, who died a needless death.

"You could fix everything," said a young girl, who died in the cold vacuum of space saving their lives.

"You could rewrite your own history," said an American who he had let down.

"You could make it so nothing bad every happened again," said his wife.

"Be with the one's you loved," said a blonde woman who had helped him heal after the war.

"Go on more thrilling adventures," said a Scottish highlander, a girl from the future by his side.

"Never be alone again," said a red-haired Scottish woman and her forever patient boyfriend.

"All you have to do is stay, Doctor," said a woman he'd let down.

"Stay here, in your memories, in your life," said a person he did not recognize, but no doubt hurt in the future.

"Stay with us forever Doctor," said all his companions, merging from one to another, changing every time. All his friends, the ones he loved, the ones he cared about more than anything else, all flashed before his eyes.

The Doctor was tempted, oh how he was tempted. In many ways it would be easy, staying in his memories, altering them so they were good. Staying in his timeline and going round and round till everything was just right. The same old stories repeated endlessly, in a loop.

"Please, grandfather," said the first companion he'd lost, abandoned because he couldn't risk her life any more, couldn't bear the thought of seeing her killed. She held out a hand. "Just stay."

The Doctor sighed, lowered his head.

And when they lifted it back up, they knew what they had to do. The Doctor was needed in the universe. They were the hero to many, hope when there appeared to be none. Never cruel, never cowardly. Never giving up, never giving in. The Doctor raised their head and looked at their foe with many coloured eyes, their faces all hung in sadness.

"You'll be trapped here," said the Doctor. "Trapped in this tiny corner of my time stream. Trapped in this area for the rest of my life. I'm sorry, I truly am, but you brought this on yourself."

Their grand-daughter's face turned into a hateful snarl, an expression they'd never want to see, but which proved it wasn't real.

"No, Doctor," said the Great Intelligence, now rapidly switching between bodies, trying to find the one to make him stay. "You can't leave me here."

"Goodbye," said the Doctor, closing the doors to their TARDIS. Slowly they turned back to their console, which shone of many colours, and of different styles. A kaleidoscope of ideas and patterns, forever interchanging.

With a familiar hum that had been heard throughout the universe the Doctor dematerialized their ship, a symbolic gesture since the TARDIS didn't technically exist at the moment. Still, it helped them clear their mind, focus their thoughts.


	16. Chapter 15

"Doctor?" said Madam Vastra, surprised at seeing her friend return after stepping out of his own timeline like that. He smiled, still holding Clara in her arms.

"She'll be fine," he said. "She saved me so many times. Only fair that I save her."

"What did you find in there?" asked Jenny.

"Myself," said the Doctor.

"Well I for one am looking forward to leaving Trenzalore," said Strax stiffly. "I think I've rather had enough."

"Of course," said the Doctor. "Back to the TARDIS then." As his Victorian friends left he turned, looking at his time stream one more time.

Deep down in there, he knew the Great Intelligence rested. No doubt trying to break free, find some ways of controlling his life. But until that moment it was trapped. The monster was defeated. And after all, isn't that what being the Doctor was all about?

THE END


End file.
